


What's in a Name?

by wordsarelifealways



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon, spoilers for Stranger Things season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 15:44:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12535288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsarelifealways/pseuds/wordsarelifealways
Summary: It's been about a fortnight, and El wants to share her real name with Mike





	What's in a Name?

It was a quiet rainy night when she told him.  They were huddled together under the softest blanket, watching a movie, and the warmth between them reminded them both that it’s real: that they’re finally together again.

It had been about a fortnight since they first saw each other again, and when Mike wasn’t at school it was a sure bet that he’d be hidden away in Hopper’s cabin with her.  One day she’d be able to go to school with him, but for now she could wait the days out knowing he’d come back to her when he was finished.

Sometimes the gang came with him and they “talked shit”; a phrase that Max had explained to her one night when they’d all done nothing but talk about school and homework and totally mundane things, like normal kids did.  Tonight, though, it was just her and Mike.

Those were her favourite nights.

The first few days after she closed the gate had pretty much been just her and Mike, and although she’d been too drained to really do much except lie next to him and listen to him talk she had enjoyed them more than anything she could remember.  He had mostly spoken about things that had happened while she had been in forced-hiding, but everything he said fascinated her.

She wanted to share something about herself in return; she wanted to interest Mike, not just the other way around.  She took a deep breath and looked up at him, her cheek rested against his bony shoulder.

“Mike?” She hated how small her voice sounded, but no matter how quiet she was he always heard her.  After years of not having a voice, she still marvelled at how he heard her.

“Yeah, El?” He glanced down at her, brown eyes full of concern.

_Now’s the time._

“Jane.” She said simply.  She had no idea where to even begin explaining everything she had learned, but her name was something simple.

“What?” Mike’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Jane.” She repeated, placing her hand on her chest.

“You found out your real name?” Mike’s face lit up with realisation, and the happiness on his face warmed her heart.

“Yes.  _Jane_.  My mama is Terry Ives.  I met her.” She told him, fiddling with the blanket nervously.

“No way!” Mike looked so excited for her and it made her heart feel like it was turning over in her chest.  “Was she like you?” Mike asked curiously, and she felt her heart clench painfully at the memory.

“Yes.  But the bad men hurt her too, really badly.” Her eyes stung a little at the memory of her mama in her rocking chair, whispering the same words over and over knowing she had the key to finding her daughter but no one around to understand.

“Oh.” Mike seemed to sense her sadness and he pulled her even closer in a tight hug.

“I have a- a birth certificate now.” She whispered haltingly into his neck, stumbling over the words Hopper had told her when he showed her the little piece of paper.  “It says Jane Hopper.” She added, smiling a little at her new name.  It was like her two lives colliding; Jane: the life stolen from her, and Hopper: the life she made for herself with these people who had had no obligation to help her and yet they had done it anyway.

Mike pulled back a little and looked at her face, but she wasn’t sure what he was looking for.  They hadn’t eaten anything messy, so she knew he wasn’t looking at food around her mouth.

“Jane.” He said thoughtfully as he looked at her face, and her stomach felt like it was falling at the sound of Mike calling her by her real name.

“Jane.” She nodded, holding onto his hand tightly.

“Is that what I should call you now?” He asked, his head tilting a little to the side.

And wasn’t that something to think about?  She had a choice now.  She wasn’t just 011 any more; she had a name of her own and she could make herself anyone she wanted to be.

“My name is Jane.” She began hesitantly.  “But I like when you call me El.” She had been embarrassed about admitting that, but she smile Mike gave her made her glad that she had.

“I like calling you El too.” He hugged her close to his side and they settled back together against the sofa, Mike making sure she had enough blanket before he got comfortable again.

“We’ll just tell people that your middle name is Elle or Ella or something.” Mike decided, playing with one of her curls gently.

“Okay.” She agreed, snuggling closer.

Apart from Hopper and Joyce – and now Mike – no one else knew her new name yet and were all still calling her Eleven or El.  She didn’t mind being called Eleven – had been for most of her life – but being called El felt special.

Jane was the name given to her by a mother she had never known, tied with a life she hadn’t lived.  Eleven was the number she had been assigned by a corporation that didn’t care about her beyond her abilities.  But El was the name Mike had given her when he was trying to make her feel safe in his basement all that time ago.

El was the girl she had become when she could be more than just a lab rat.  El was the identity she had made for herself, with help along the way from Mike and their friends, and she wasn’t sure if she could part with that.

Jane may be the name on her birth certificate, but El was the name Mike whispered when they curled up together, that her friends called when they were trying to get her attention, that Hopper muttered into her hair when he pulled her into a big bear hug when she had worried him.

El was who she was to her family, and she was surprised by how much that meant to her when she had seen her birth certificate and read its different name.

“Hey, El?” Mike whispered, derailing her train of thought.

“Yes?” She whispered back.

“Even though I probably won’t call you it, I’m happy that you know who you really are and where you came from and stuff.” When she glanced up she could see the blush on Mike’s face, and she smiled to herself.  Like her, Mike sometimes struggled to say what he wanted to say.

“Thanks.  Me too.” She laid her head back on his shoulder and felt a calm settle over her.

No matter what her name was, she knew she would have her family – including her mama and Aunt Becky – with her always.

What was in a name, anyway?

**Author's Note:**

> as always, you can hmu on [tumblr](http://isaksredscarf.tumblr.com)


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